Talk:Kaguya/@comment-5060552-20140425141542/@comment-11687-20140512132750
CG, a minor point; while "hentai" does technically mean "pervert," the context of the word in Japanese carries a nuance that's more along the lines of "deviant" or "sicko." "Ecchi" is a more straightforward case of calling someone a pervert. That said, I tentatively agree with Wonder Star insofar as saying that "sexist" is a term that I wouldn't apply to Queen's Blade, largely because I believe that labels regarding morality (and the charge of sexism is a specific type of immorality) are only applicable to actions done with regards to other people. This moral framework - my own take on deontological ethics - holds that creating artwork does not fall under a negative value (e.g. there is no aspect of "this is something that MUST NOT be done, or it will be immoral"), nor a positive value (e.g. a duty - that is, "you MUST do this, or it will be bad"). Rather, artwork is, at most, supererogatory in what it can be (e.g. "above and beyond the call of duty; more than is necessary"), usually by creating something that promotes social justice. The nature of supererogatory actions, however, is that while they're morally virtuous if you do them, they're not immoral if you choose not to. The same way you're doing something good if you volunteer your weekend to feed the homeless, but are not doing something immoral if you instead decide to spend the weekend on the couch watching television, this is an area where it's grey-or-white, rather than black-or-white. Hence, I see no particular moral fault in creating or consuming Queen's Blade media. The usual counter here is that such media presents a value system that encourages actions we'd consider immoral; e.g. objectifying women. I don't find this to be a compelling argument for several reasons. For one thing, I believe that mature adults will already have a value system in place, and that they have the maturity to not let it be influenced by whatever media they consume (hence why playing violent video games does not make you a murderer). This isn't necessarily the case for children, who are still developing their own value system, and so will incorporate whatever influences they can find in that regard. The role of parents, by contrast, is to be active in shaping their childrens' values, uprooting other values they may have gained from their environment, peers, or other sources. Note that this doesn't mean that parents need to run pass-block on anything objectionable; it just means they have to take time to interact with their children and teach them what sort of person they should be, morally speaking. Likewise, the idea that some people may internalize a poor message from a given piece of artwork is not sufficient disincentive (to me, at least) to create it. Artwork is a highly opaque medium insofar as determining what, if any, message the creator may have had in mind for it. As such, viewers are largely free to read their own message into what they're viewing. Indeed, we can see the case for that in Queen's Blade - are the women here strong-willed warriors who fight for their own values and beliefs? Or are they sex objects who can't seem to stop parading around naked for the pleasure of their viewers? Both interpretations are legitimate, and so the message of the show is found to be subjective in what it presents. Sexism, to me, is found in how people actually treat women in the real world. It's not found in a relatively niche series of beautiful female fighters.